It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

The VBS team is counting down the days until Christmas. We can’t wait to be able to celebrate with our families. So, in the spirit of getting ready for the holidays, I thought it would be fun to share some of our favorite Christmas decorations with you. Hope you enjoy!

Lynne: My grandmother sewed clothes for my sister and me when we were little. She also made great Barbie outfits! My aunt managed to get a couple of my grandmother’s old spools from my mom. She took them to a man in an Amish community south of Nashville who carves Santas from spools. It’s a beautiful reminder of my grandmother. I love it.

Rhonda: When Richard and I first got married we moved over 400 miles away from our families. As poor college students, Christmas was looking pretty sad. A kind friend at church let us cut a small cedar from his property for a tree, but we had no ornaments. One day a package came in the mail from a friend back home. It was a simple little house with “Our First Home” printed on the back and the date. It has been at the top of our tree each year since!

Darlene: This lighted centerpiece is my favorite Christmas decoration. I won it years ago by outbidding others in a church craft fair with all profits going to Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. I had to work hard to keep increasing my bid to be the highest bidder at the designated cutoff time. (It was all for missions, and not my own selfishness, of course!) Last year, the lights would not come on and my mechanically-inclined husband, who can fix anything, tested the bulbs and had me believe it was done for. Then one day, I came in and it was lit up. My husband still claims that he didn’t do anything to it. So I called it my Christmas miracle that my favorite decoration was still useable!

Courtney: My tree….. the cool thing about my tree is that my husband did it all. Because of all the rain we weren’t able to go get one, and I was having a Christmas party at my house on December 1. After I had resigned to the fact that we weren’t going to have a tree, I came home from work on the 1st to a fully decorated tree. Chase had gone at lunch to buy it and decorate it.

Gordon: The manger scene is a favorite decoration. 8′ tall and about 8′ wide. The first one was made of plywood and was too heavy. I made this one out of Coroplast, a corrugated plastic I got from a sign maker friend. It comes in 4’X8′ foot pieces like the plywood version so I didn’t have to re-drawn the design. It looks pretty cool at night coming up the hill through the neighborhood—kind of like it’s floating in mid air against the dark winter night sky. Now if I can just figure out to mass produce them! (folks keep asking)

Another favorite decoration is what we call the Nutcracker Army. I’ve been collecting them for a few years now, usually getting at least one nutcracker a year for while now. I actually built a couple wooden risers for them to stand on. I like the soldier Nutcrackers. They remind me of many who will not be home for Christmas as they serve our country. My prayers are with them and their families–especially during the holidays.

Melita: Beethoven helped Melita decorate for Christmas this year!

Candace: I chose my stocking as one of my favorite Christmas decorations. My sister and I have matching ones that we have had since we were little. I love traditions and getting this stocking out each year brings back lots of memories.